An Investigation of the Antecedents and Consequences of Individual-Level Customer Orientation: A Comprehensive Approach

Customer orientation has been acknowledged by both practitioners and scholars as a critical element for the success of almost every business. The primary objective of this research study is to respond to the previous research calls (e.g., Brown et al. 2002; Deshpande, Farley, and Webster 1993; O\u27Hare, Boles, and Johnston 1991) by investigating the antecedents and consequences of customer orientation at the individual level through a comprehensive structural model. The suggested model captures a comprehensive set of potential antecedents of customer orientation. The antecedents and consequences of customer orientation include organizational factors (i.e., organizational culture and market orientation), j ob-related factors (i.e., job involvement, role ambiguity/conflict, job satisfaction, and organizational commitment), individual factors (i.e., gender, age, experience, and education), personality factors (i.e., compliant, aggressive, and detached) and performance factors (i.e., improved buyer-seller relations and performance). Especially, the effect of organizational culture type (i.e., clan, adhocracy, hierarchy, and market) on customer orientation of the individual is an important issue that has not been investigated much. The study results suggest that high levels of market orientation lead to high levels of individual-level customer orientation. Role ambiguity has a significant negative effect on customer orientation. Organizational commitment was found to be positively linked to customer orientation. The study results do not support the hypothesis that women marketers are more customer-oriented than their male counterparts. The study also tested the effects of age, experience and education on customer orientation. According to the study results, younger marketers (less than 45 years old) place more value on customers than older marketers (45 years and older); inexperienced marketers (less than 10 years of experience on the job) care more about their customers than experienced ones (at least 10 years of experience on the job); and finally, more educated marketers (having attended graduate school or higher) have more customer orientation than less educated marketers. The study results also reveal that higher levels of customer orientation result in higher levels of relationship development and individual performance. Managerial implications of the study results were also presented and discussed. At the end, future research suggestions were provided

Exploring Occupational And Strategic Drivers Of Individual Customer Orientation

The aim of this study is to investigate occupational and strategic drivers and performance consequences of individual customer orientation in the marketing/selling context via a conceptual framework. The occupational drivers are job involvement, role ambiguity/conflict, job satisfaction, and organizational commitment and the strategic driver is market orientation. The performance outcomes are relationship development and individual performance. The proposed model was tested over a random sample of 2000 marketers from a broad spectrum of businesses. The final sample consisted of 189 usable responses. A structural equation modeling analysis was used for model specification and hypothesis testing. According to the study results, there is a positive and significant relationship between market orientation and customer orientation. Also, organizational commitment and role conflict impact customer orientation significantly and positively. The effects of role ambiguity and job involvement on customer orientation are negative and significant. The study results also revealed that higher levels of customer orientation lead to higher levels of relationship development and individual performance. Managerial implications and future research avenues were also discussed

A Prospective Study of Etiology of Childhood Acute Bacterial Meningitis, Turkey

Vaccines to prevent bacterial meningitis in this region must provide reliable protection against serogroup W-135

The impact of the time interval on in-vitro fertilisation success after failure of the first attempt

WOS: 000356523300017PubMed: 25264732The aim of this study was to identify the optimal time interval for in-vitro fertilisation that would increase treatment success after failure of the first attempt. This retrospective study evaluated 454 consecutive cycles of 227 infertile women who had two consecutive attempts within a 6-month period at an IVF centre. Data were collected on duration of stimulation, consumption of gonadotropin, numbers of retrieved oocytes, mature oocytes, fertilised eggs, good quality embryos on day 3/5 following oocyte retrieval and clinical and ongoing pregnancy. There were significant increases in clinical pregnancy rates at 2-,3- and 4-month intervals. the maximum increase was after two menstrual cycles (p = 0.001). the highest rate of ongoing pregnancy was in women that had the second attempt after the next menstrual cycle following failure of IVF (27.2%). After IVF failure, initiating the next attempt within 2-4 months increases the clinical pregnancy rates

Nasopharyngeal Meningococcal Carriage among Children and Adolescents in Turkey in 2018: An Unexpected High Serogroup X Carriage

Meningococcal carriage studies and transmission modeling can predict IMD epidemiology and used to define invasive meningococcal disease (IMD) control strategies. In this multicenter study, we aimed to evaluate the prevalence of nasopharyngeal Neisseria meningitidis (Nm) carriage, serogroup distribution, and related risk factors in Turkey. Nasopharyngeal samples were collected from a total of 1267 children and adolescents and were tested with rt-PCR. Nm carriage was detected in 96 participants (7.5%, 95% CI 6.1-9.0), with the peak age at 13 years (12.5%). Regarding age groups, Nm carriage rate was 7% in the 0-5 age group, was 6.9%in the 6-10 age group, was 7.9% in the 11-14 age group, and was 9.3% in the 15-18 age group. There was no statistically significant difference between the groups (p > 0.05). The serogroup distribution was as follows: 25% MenX, 9.4% MenA, 9.4% MenB, 2.1% MenC, 3.1% MenW, 2.1% for MenY, and 48.9% for non-groupable. The Nm carriage rate was higher in children with previous upper respiratory tract infections and with a high number of household members, whereas it was lower in children with antibiotic use in the last month (p Eskisehir Osmangazi University Research Grant [201811027]This study has been supported by Eskisehir Osmangazi University Research Grant (201811027)

The Prevalence, Serogroup Distribution And Risk Factors Of Meningococcal Carriage In Adolescents And Young Adults In Turkey

The serogroup epidemiology of invasive meningococcal disease (IMD), which varies considerably by geographic region and immunization schedule, changes continuously. Meningococcal carriage data are crucial for assessing IMD epidemiology and designing f potential vaccination strategies. Meningococcal seroepidemiology in Turkey differs from that in other countries: serogroups W and B are the predominant strains for IMD during childhood, whereas no serogroup C cases were identified over the last 10 y and no adolescent peak for IMD was found. There is a lack of data on meningococcal carriage that represents the whole population. The aims of this multicenter study (12 cities in Turkey) were to evaluate the prevalence of Neisseria meningitidis carriage, the serogroup distribution and the related risk factors (educational status, living in a dormitory or student house, being a household contact with Hajj pilgrims, smoking, completion of military service, attending bars/clubs) in 1518 adolescents and young adults aged 10-24 y. The presence of N. meningitidis DNA was tested, and a serogroup analysis was performed using polymerase chain reaction. The overall meningococcal carriage rate was 6.3% (n = 96) in the study population. A serogroup distribution of the 96 N. meningitidis strains isolated from the nasopharyngeal specimens revealed serogroup A in 5 specimens (5.2%), serogroup B in 9 specimens (9.4%), serogroup W in 64 specimens (66.6%), and serogroup Y in 4 specimens (4.2%); 14 were classified as non-grouped (14.4%). No serogroup C cases were detected. The nasopharyngeal meningococcal carriage rate was 5% in the 10-14 age group, 6.4% in the 15-17 age-group, and 4.7% in the 18-20 age group; the highest carriage rate was found in the 21-24 age group (9.1%), which was significantly higher than those of the other age groups (p < 0.05). The highest carriage rate was found in 17-year-old adolescents (11%). The carriage rate was higher among the participants who had had close contact with Hajj/Umrah pilgrims (p < 0.01) or a history of upper respiratory tract infections over the past 3 months (p < 0.05). The nasopharyngeal carriage rate was 6.3% among adolescents and young adults in Turkey and was similar to the recent rates observed in the same age groups in other countries. The most prevalent serogroup was W, and no serogroup C cases were found. In conclusion, the present study found that meningococcal carriage reaches its peak level by age 17, the highest carriage rate was found in 21-to 24-year-olds and the majority of the carriage cases were due to serogroup W. Adolescents and young adult carriers seem to be a potential reservoir for the disease, and further immunization strategies, including adolescent immunization, may play a role in the control of IMD.WoSScopu